The United States Army has an unfulfilled requirement for Command, Control, Communication, Cognition, and Intelligence ("C4I") that is collaborative, dispersed, interactive, and realtime. Current C4I takes place in command post tents using maps, overlays and networked computers. These tents are fixed sites that require commanders to travel between command posts to ensure that every unit under his command shares his common vision of the battle. There exists a need for a communications system which eliminates the delay caused by this travel.
Furthermore, there are constraints placed on the communications medium that currently supports the above-described interaction. The current generation of secure Digital Military Radios has a limited bandwidth of 14.4 KBS. This constrained communication carries voice and data simultaneously. The Army has tried to overcome this problem by using video phone technology. The problem with transmitting video, especially in network applications, is the large bandwidth required. Current state of the art full frame video phone technology is characterized by generally poor image quality and slow image transmission rates. The limited nature of the technology has proved entirely unsatisfactory to the nature of C4I operations.
Virtual reality video phones and virtual reality conferencing technologies have been utilized in the past to provide simulated or virtual full frame video of participants in a video conference. These technologies allow remote conference participants to present multimedia for joint conference meetings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,743 discloses a virtual conferencing system comprising a plurality of user terminals that are linked together using communication lines. The user terminals each include a display for displaying the virtual conference environment and for displaying animated characters representing each terminal user in attendance at the virtual conference. The user terminals also include a video camera, trained on the user sitting at the terminal, for transmitting video signal input to each of the linked terminal apparatus so that changes in facial expression and head and/or body movements of the user sitting in front of the terminal apparatus are mirrored by their corresponding animated character in the virtual conference environment. Each terminal apparatus further includes audio input/output means to transmit voice data to all user terminals synchronous with the video transmission so that when a particular person moves or speaks, his actions are transmitted simultaneously over the network to all user terminals which then updates the computer model of that particular user animated character on the visual displays for each user terminal. Since only changes in the visual information are sent over the network, the size of the transmitted video signal information is substantially reduced, thereby conserving bandwidth for a more intuitive, realtime feel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,491,743 also discloses a virtual conferencing system which includes a shared application section for storing programs such as a shared chalkboard, where attendants of the conference are able to type in text and draw pictures. In this type of virtual conferencing system, each conference participant is of equal weight meaning that each participant has an identical level of immersion within the virtual environment. A limitation associated with such an equally weighted system is that it only allows collaboration of a certain type of activity or work to take place. Since each conference participant performs the same function, they must bring pre-prepared information to the virtual environment for interaction with the other participants. The notion here is that the conference participants do not use the virtual environment for extended periods of time because they must first prepare information before entering the virtual environment. The virtual environment is only used to make changes in the prepared information. In order to act on these changes in the real world, the conference participants must physically exit the virtual conference environment so that they can distribute the changes in the information for action by others. Therefore, to make the virtual environment more like a real life work environment, it would be desirable to make the virtual environment the primary place of work such that the conference participants are able to transmit and receive information in real time to and from the outside world so that they can change or process the information in accordance with their own needs.
While the communications and meeting aspects of the prior art virtual video phone technologies and virtual conferencing systems address some of the low level needs of C4I, they fail to create a functional virtual work environment that commanders require. A complete virtual work environment that has all of the tools required for command and staff to carry out the independent and collaborative acts that constitute C4I would constitute a significant advance in the art.